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A Nordic Rite of Passage Comes of Age 5 CASE STUDY: A NORDIC RITE OF PASSAGE COMES OF AGE Jeltje Gordon-Lennox Confirmation as a rite of passage for coming of age has deep roots in traditional Nordic culture. For hundreds of years Nordic state churches held the key to adulthood. Until 1849, young people could not legally marry, hold adult jobs or even wear adult clothing until they had been approved by their parson and confirmed by the church in a public ceremony. While confirmation remained a significant sign of the passage from youth to adulthood in all Nordic countries until the early 1900s, it is no longer obligatory. Furthermore, young people now have a choice between a religious or secular confirmation. Each year about 17 per cent of all young Norwegians,1 8.5 per cent of Icelandic youth,2 1.5 per cent of Finnish youth3 and a smaller percentage of young people in Denmark and Sweden are confirmed in humanist or secular ceremonies. 1 Human-Etisk Forbund, the Norwegian Humanist Association (NHA), supplied these statistics for 2016. 2 Siðmennt, Félag Siđrænna Húmanista, the Icelandic Ethical Humanist Association (IEHA), supplied these statistics for 2016. 3 According to Tuomas Rutanen of the Finnish Prometheus Camps Association (Prometheus-leirin tuki ry), 1.5 per cent or 853 Finnish youth attended the humanist camps in 2015. 87 EMERGING RITUAL IN SECULAR SOCIETIES A TRANSDISCIPLINARY CONVERSATION Edited by Jeltje Gordon-Lennox Jessica Kingsley Publishers London and Philadelphia First published in 2017 by Jessica Kingsley Publishers 73 Collier Street London N1 9BE, UK and 400 Market Street, Suite 400 Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA www.jkp.com Copyright © Jessica Kingsley Publishers 2017 Front cover image source: [iStockphoto®/Shutterstock®]. The cover image is for illustrative purposes only, and any person featuring is a model. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying, storing in any medium by electronic means or transmitting) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the law or under terms of a licence issued in the UK by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd. www.cla.co.uk or in overseas territories by the relevant reproduction rights organisation, for details see www.ifrro.org. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher. Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 78592 083 7 eISBN 978 1 78450 344 4 Printed and bound in Great Britain CONTENTS List of Figures 7 Acknowledgements 9 Introduction: Opening the Conversation 11 Jeltje Gordon-Lennox Part I: The Origins of Ritual 1 The Art of Ritual and the Ritual of Art 22 Ellen Dissanayake 2 Human Rituals and Ethology 40 Matthieu Smyth 3 The Neurophysiology of Ritual and Trauma 55 Robert C. Scaer Part II: Sensemaking in Life Events 4 The Rhyme and Reason of Ritualmaking 70 Jeltje Gordon-Lennox 5 Case Study: A Nordic Rite of Passage Comes of Age 87 Jeltje Gordon-Lennox in collaboration with Lene Mürer, Siri Sandberg and Inger-Johanne Slaatta (Norwegian Humanist Association), Marie Louise Petersen (Danish Humanist Society), Bjarni Jonsson (Icelandic Ethical Humanist Association) and Tuomas Rutanen (Finnish Prometheus Camps Association) 6 Multicultural Wedding Ceremonies 104 Andrés Allemand Smaller 7 Case Study: A Funeral Ceremony for a Violinist 119 Christine Behrend 8 Case Study: A Memorial and a Wedding Rolled into One Humanist Ceremony 127 Isabel Russo Part III: Ritualizing in Intimate Spaces 9 Ritual as Resource 140 Michael Picucci 10 Sensing the Dead 158 Joanna Wojtkowiak 11 Food and Ritual 172 Lindy Mechefske Part IV: Ritualizing in Public Places 12 Commemorative Ritual and the Power of Place 188 Irene Stengs 13 New Ritual Society 203 Gianpiero Vincenzo 14 Ritual and Contemporary Art 217 Jacqueline Millner 15 Interview with Ritual Artist Ida van der Lee 232 Christine Behrend 16 Conclusion: Conversation to be Continued 246 Jeltje Gordon-Lennox Notes on Contributors 248 5 CASE STUDY: A NORDIC RITE OF PASSAGE COMES OF AGE Jeltje Gordon-Lennox Confirmation as a rite of passage for coming of age has deep roots in traditional Nordic culture. For hundreds of years Nordic state churches held the key to adulthood. Until 1849, young people could not legally marry, hold adult jobs or even wear adult clothing until they had been approved by their parson and confirmed by the church in a public ceremony. While confirmation remained a significant sign of the passage from youth to adulthood in all Nordic countries until the early 1900s, it is no longer obligatory. Furthermore, young people now have a choice between a religious or secular confirmation. Each year about 17 per cent of all young Norwegians,1 8.5 per cent of Icelandic youth,2 1.5 per cent of Finnish youth3 and a smaller percentage of young people in Denmark and Sweden are confirmed in humanist or secular ceremonies. 1 Human-Etisk Forbund, the Norwegian Humanist Association (NHA), supplied these statistics for 2016. 2 Siðmennt, Félag Siđrænna Húmanista, the Icelandic Ethical Humanist Association (IEHA), supplied these statistics for 2016. 3 According to Tuomas Rutanen of the Finnish Prometheus Camps Association (Prometheus-leirin tuki ry), 1.5 per cent or 853 Finnish youth attended the humanist camps in 2015. 87 88 Emerging Ritual in Secular Societies As in the past, young people aged 14 to 16 wear special clothes at the ceremony, and their family members come from afar to celebrate in family festivities planned long in advance. The biggest change in this old Nordic tradition is the non-religious content of the secular confirmations and the fact that the venue is no longer a church building but a concert hall, a medieval castle, a municipal cinema, a cultural centre or a city hall or community building. The confirmation tradition – whether religious or humanist – is now so interwoven into Nordic culture and society that it has become an integral part of strong family traditions in the countries that formerly comprised the Kingdom of Denmark: Norway, Iceland and Denmark. This study examines the evolution of non-religious confirmation ceremonies in these three countries. HOW DID THIS CHANGE COME ABOUT? A bit about the history of confirmation In order to understand the importance of confirmation in Nordic society today, we must take a brief look at the origins of confirmation. In the early years of the Christian Church, three Sacraments of initiation – Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist/Communion – were celebrated together by bishops for adult catechumens at the Easter Vigil. Over time, the three sacraments were associated with separate moments in Christian life. As Christianity spread northwards with the Romans and much of Europe became Catholic, confirmation began to be practiced at adolescence rather than infancy. During the Middle Ages, it became known as the sacrament of (spiritual) maturity. In 1308, the catechism of the Roman Catholic Church warns: ‘Although Confirmation is sometimes called the “sacrament of Christian maturity”, we must not confuse adult faith with the adult age of natural growth, nor forget that the baptismal grace is a grace of free, unmerited election and does not need “ratification” to become effective.’ As Christianity spread northwards with the Romans and much of Europe became Catholic, confirmation began to be practised at adolescence rather than infancy. During the Middle Ages, it became Case Study: A Nordic Rite of Passage Comes of Age 89 known as the sacrament of (spiritual) maturity. Youth, confirmed between the ages 12 and 15, were regarded as old enough and ready to live active, responsible Christian lives. Confirmation in Nordic countries The history of confirmation in the Nordic countries and their associated territories is inextricably intertwined. From about 1397 to 1523, Denmark, Sweden (which then included Finland) and Norway, together with Norway’s overseas dependencies (Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands and the Northern Isles) were joined under the Union of Kalmaris. Although the states legally retained their sovereignty, one single monarch, the King of Denmark, directed most of their policies. With the breakaway of Sweden in 1523, the Union of Kalmaris was effectively dissolved. In 1536, King Christian III joined the Reformation movement and imposed Lutheranism on his extended kingdom, which then covered an area that now constitutes most of Denmark, Norway and Iceland. The King – like his favoured theologian – rejected confirmation as a sacrament, and it fell into relative disuse. Some Lutherans, however, followed Luther’s advice to retain confirmation as a public rite for children.4 The practice reappeared late in the 17th century in a somewhat different form under the influence of Pietism. This Protestant movement from Germany, with its strong emphasis on individual devotion, paved the way for compulsory confirmation. King Christian VI reintroduced the confirmation of youth in 1736 as a legal and religious rite. Compulsory confirmation contributed to a rise in the level of literacy and to the institution of regular schooling throughout the Kingdom. As from 1814, the School Law applied free, obligatory education for all children from six or seven years old and until their confirmation seven years later. All young people aged 14 to 19 4 ‘Urge magistrates and parents to rule well and to send their children to school…train children to be pastors, preachers, clerks [also for other offices, with which we cannot dispense in this life], etc..
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